Sara Monopoli Research Paper

Sara Monopoli’s death was peaceful but her process of dying was a struggle. In her process of treatment, she became frail. Her treatments had made her more ill than better and her quality of life had declined. All of Sara 's physicians were working toward saving her life. However, none of them really knew when to stop treating her aggressively. Sara, her family, and her doctors, wanted to fight and do all that can be done to get her well. They were fighting so hard that they might have missed the signs that these treatments were deteriorating Sara instead of helping cure Sara’s cancer. Dr. Gawande said, "My subject was to avoid the subject all together." It was good in the beginning that he didn 't want to keep Sara …show more content…
It is hard to give up the fight especially for someone who still has a lot to live for-- for someone who 's young, like Sara, who just had a baby and was just starting a family. If I were to find out that I am terminally ill right now, I would be saddened by the fact that I haven’t accomplished the goals that I am still in the process of achieving. However, with life-changing events comes changing of goals. I learned in nursing school that the goals we set when planning care must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time limited. Patients and their healthcare providers should consider the same criteria when planning the patient’s care. Aside from planning patient’s care together, it is important for patients and healthcare providers to have a “breakpoint discussion”, as mentioned in “Letting Go”. It is imperative to realize what patients are fighting for— more time or what they value. It is also important to sit down and think why we are doing what we are doing. I don’t believe that Sara was able to thoroughly think about what she really wanted. At times, when patients begin treatment, they get busy and focused on their treatments and forget the other aspects of their lives. Sometimes, the tendency is to focus on getting the physiologic health better that the psycho-social health is neglected. At times, patients forget to weigh their options and count the cost of their decision. The sick would obviously want to get well. However, the quality of life should not be forgotten. Just because a human is still breathing, it doesn 't mean they 're